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York retail manager Daniel Leeks jailed for sex with girl, 14

A RETAIL manager from York has been jailed for plying a 14-year-old girl with vodka and then sexually abusing her.

Daniel Derek Leeks, 23, invited the girl and a friend to his home in Acomb Mews, Acomb, said Roderick Hunt, prosecuting.

He gave them vodka and strong drink until the girl was so drunk she could not stand up and was sick. He himself drank lager.

Leeks then walked the friend home claiming he would look after the 14-year-old who could sleep in his bed while he slept on the sofa.

Instead, he subjected the girl to a “full night of sexual activity” and then gave a “graphic account” of it to police.

The victim was so drunk she couldn’t remember anything of it, York Crown Court heard.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, jailed him for three years and put him on the sexual offenders’ register for life.

He told Leeks: “You have brought all of this down on yourself by being quite unable to control your sexual urges on that night where in circumstances because of the drink you had provided, she was in no position to make informed decisions for herself.”

The girl had wanted to sleep off her drunkenness. But Leeks had had unprotected sex with her, told her not to tell anyone about it because of her age.

He claimed to police that the girl had been an “enthusiastic participant”.

Leeks pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child.

He was also given a sexual offences prevention order banning him from associating with children under 16 and the girl in particular.

For him, Chris Tehrani said he had a managerial job with a large retail organisation in York that was prepared to stand by him if he didn’t go to jail.

“He doesn’t know why it happened,” he said. “He had been drinking himself and he is thoroughly ashamed of himself.

“He had split up with his then girlfriend two or three months before.

“He was working and felt alone and one thing led to another.”

Afterwards, he had been concerned that the girl might be pregnant.

He had been afraid of pleading guilty because of the effect his conviction could have on his relationship with his current partner and other members of his family.

The judge took into account the fact that Leeks’ mother had died while he was on bail after his arrest.

The case was delayed from last autumn so that he could attend her funeral.